Chapter 70: The Chase is On
"Congratulations, Star Warrior, you have assembled all seven pieces of the star rod. Now you can summon the Great Star Rod of Light at will. But be careful, Star Warrior. As the star rod shards are the source of your powers, you will lose them when the Great Star Rod of Light is summoned. You must once again consume the star rod for your powers to return. Your quest is nearing an end and the final confrontation is imminent. May you shine forth like a star."
Chuchu gasped for breath. For her, the air inside the Dark Cloud felt unnaturally thick. With intense effort, she managed to propel herself out.
The instant she exited the Dark Cloud, she took off running. She didn't what to be enveloped again.
I can't believe it, thought Chuchu as she ran. All the times that voice spoke to Kirby... it was just a recording! Chuchu laughed.
Capped Mountain loomed in front of Kirby. He would need to scale it to get to Cloudy Park.
Capped Mountain gets its name from the fact that its peak is always white (grey in the Dark Cloud) with snow, while the rest of its body always remained nothing but tan-colored (mud-colored in the Dark Cloud) rock.
Scaling this mountain was the only way to get to Cloudy Park. Then, you had to travel up the six levels (stories, floors, whatever) of Cloudy Park to get to the highest marginally stable environment in Dreamland: Bubbly Clouds.
The early Dreamlanders had long ago set up mines in Bubbly Clouds. Now, you may think it absurd to say that a mine could be put in a cloud, let alone at such a high altitude. But, the real truth of the matter is the clouds of Bubbly Clouds have special properties. As the clouds undulate, they sometimes mix certain chemicals in the air to create fine jewels. The mines were set up to extract the gems from the clouds. It was no easy task to get all the way up to Bubbly Clouds, but well worth it, as the gems were highly conductive and became used almost exclusively in the machines that were eventually sealed in the dungeons of Castle Dedede. The mines, however, no longer exist. Their end came when the mine disturbed the manner in which the cloud moved. The wrong chemicals started getting mixed, creating batches of unstable jewels, which exploded when "dug" out, destroying the eastern-most region of Bubbly Clouds and every Dreamlander that was working there at the time.
And so, Kirby began to climb.
No! thought Dark Matter. Oh, that annoying octopus! Now that she has a piece of the star rod, I won't be able to possess her, just like Kirby! But, then again, the power of one shard isn't enough to make her fully immune to the poisonous effects of my Dark Cloud. Marx must be healed of his blindness! Then I will surely be able to trap Chuchu once and for all! And besides, while the shard resides in Chuchu's body, Kirby will never be able to retrieve it!
"I have located Kirby, Sir," said Meta Axe, who was starting to get a feel for controlling the ship's scanners. "He is currently climbing Capped Mountain."
"Now will you tell us your plan?" hissed Meta Lance at Meta Knight.
"Very well," relented Meta Knight. "We are to monitor Kirby's progress and try to discern some sort of recurring action, something Kirby does frequently during his travels that we might be able to exploit. It could be a habit or routine or just something he repeats every so often."
"That's it?" said Sasuke. "That's your plan? In all its entirety?"
"That is it."
Capped Mountain isn't one of the tallest peaks in Dreamland. Nor is it one of the steepest. Kirby flew some of the way, but there were many places where he could walk or climb more quickly. After all, he couldn't fly forever.
There were some Dreamlanders, however, that could fly (inflated and without touching the ground) for amazingly long periods of time. The record is two days. Dreamlanders would occasionally organize it as a sport, with prizes for those who could hold out the longest. Kirby had never participated in any of these. He could only fly for two hours max.
Anyway, Kirby reached the top without incident.
"Kirby," said Gooey, "the anomaly is located on the southeast end of level four. You got that? Know how to get there?"
"Yeah," replied Kirby. "Hold on Gooey. I just spotted something familiar."
"What?" asked Gooey. "What did you spot?"
"Heh, heh. Those little blue Poppy Brothers sure held up their end of the deal."
The thing Kirby had spotted... was a Warp Cannon.
"I haven't used one of these in what seems like ages," he told Gooey after saying what it was.
"Well, you might as well try it out," replied Gooey. "I'll hold for a minute."
Kirby lit the fuse with the torch and hopped inside. There was a bang and then Kirby found himself in another cloud bubble filled with food.
Wow, thought Kirby. It's been a while since I last had a decent meal. I'd better savor this. Inhaling food doesn't allow me to taste it at all.
Kirby began to eat.
"Uh-oh," said Meta Axe. "Um, Sir, Kirby has disappeared off my scanners."
"What?" replied Meta Knight.
"I don't get it. He just... vanished."
"Did anything significant happen just before he disappeared."
"Well, there was a small, traveling heat source, detected by the thermo scanners, followed by a short hot blast."
"A cannon," concluded Meta Knight.
"Ah," concurred Sasuke. "That would explain it."
"A cannon, Sir?" asked Meta Axe.
"Yes, a cannon." Meta Knight explained. "The first sign of heat was the lit fuse and the blast was the shot."
"But how did Kirby disappear?"
"Wait a minute," interrupted yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Senior.
"You have information on this, Poppy?" asked Meta Knight. "Please tell us."
"Yeah..." continued yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Senior. "One of my two twin brothers... he made something like this. He called it a... um... Oh, I know I'll think of it. You remember my brothers, right? I don't think I've ever really told you much about them." The Meta Clan had never seen him this pensive. "We were each given special garments at birth. Each one of us got a different primary color. Mine was yellow. My brothers got blue and red. We were each blessed with the three types of happiness. Mine was glee. My blue-suited brother got exhilaration and my red-suited brother got delight. I was still young when red Poppy left. I don't know where he went and I haven't seen him since. It was soon after that that Owtrebmun, a good friend of the family, bestowed on us, or the two of us that were left, the ability to make miniature copies of ourselves that would do our bidding."
"I had always wondered where they all came from," interrupted Meta Sword. "But why don't you do that all the time? Dekabu produces plenty Kabus everyday."
"This duplication process can only be performed once every three years," explained yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Senior. "Well anyway, we began calling ourselves the 'Seniors' and our duplicates the 'Juniors'. The names just stuck. But then my brother, with the passion of exhilaration, began treating his Juniors very poorly, reducing them to slaves, instead of playing with them and taking care of them like I did mine. They wanted to kill him, but they were bound by some inexplicable magic to follow his orders. I started getting in fights with my brother. Luckily we both had the sense not to allow our Juniors to fight each other, but we did not have the sense not to devise more evil ways to kill each other. Then, by some strange coincidence, we both discovered combustible powder on the same day. We began to manufacture explosives, but his rate of production was much faster, for he ruthlessly used his Juniors to make more bombs, more TNT, more rigs." The Meta Clan had never seen him this close to tears. "He got carried away. He rigged Butter Building, the whole thing, with a self-destruct mechanism. And then he set up Warp Can- Warp Cannons! That's the name! He set up the Warp Cannons to take his Juniors to undetectable strongholds in the clouds, which were stuffed with food to sustain them if they had to retreat during a war between us. But we never actually used our explosives to fight each other. I gave up trying to make him see reason and decided to put my explosive skills to good use. Well, you know what happened after that. I joined the Meta Army. Now that I finally look back on all of this, I realize he wasn't actually that good of a fighter. He had so much ambition, so much drive, but in the end... I know for a fact that he was in Butter Building when the self-destruct was activated."
Silence.
"Well, that was fascinating, Poppy," said Meta Knight, "but we didn't ask for your life story. Warp Cannons you say? Yes, it fits. Do you think it might be possible for us to stock up on food using them?"
"Nope," answered yellow-suited Poppy Brothers Senior. "Only someone who has been specially designated an ally of my brother by him or his Juniors can use the Warp Cannons. If anyone else tries, they will be shot out as if it were a normal cannon."
"Well, Kirby's still off the map," said Meta Axe. "Is he one of your brother's allies?"
"He must be. Either that or he did some sort of favor for the freed Juniors. Or maybe... he was the one that activated the self-destruction. Then the Juniors would have allowed him to use the Warp Cannons out of gratitude."
"Indeed a logical explanation," put in Silver Kibble.
"In that case," said Meta Knight. "I have an idea."
Wow... thought Kirby as he finished off the food. That... was... good...
But then Kirby noticed something else in the cloud. It was disk-shaped and had a blue "stem" coming out of one of its edges. The circular part was sparkly and white, featuring a pink spiral in the center of its flat part.
Kirby picked it up by the "stem". If he had a nose, he would have sniffed it.
Kirby exited the bubble and called Gooey. He took a picture of the thing and asked Gooey what it was.
"Well, it's a lollipop," said Gooey. "The circular part on top is edible."
"Really? I've never heard of a lollipop before."
"They are a form of candy made mostly of sugar. Very tasty. Are you going to eat it or not?"
"I don't know. I've never seen food sparkle before. And what are 'candy' and 'sugar'?"
"I suppose you don't have candy here. Hmm... Maybe the high sugar content in it has an adverse effect on Dreamlanders. Yes, that's it. Such a thick sugar concentration would probably accelerate bodily functions and convert you to an abnormally acute energetic state."
"Huh?"
"Don't eat it."
"Okay."
Kirby left the lollipop on the cloud he was standing on and then walked away.
Ah, thought Dark Matter. So Kirby has made his way to Cloudy Park. Well, he'll be in for a rather unpleasant surprise.
Kirby summoned (randomly) Fire and Parasol abilities to become Flaming Parasol Kirby! As with any Parasol ability, Kirby held a parasol over his head, and now it lit on fire.
Kirby was surrounded by enemies. The Dark Cloud had put them under Dark Matter's possession.
"Alright, Dark Matter," said Kirby. "You'd better learn not to mess with me!"
Kirby ran at a waddle doo, whacking it with his parasol in an explosion of fire. Four birdons tried to slice Kirby from behind, but Kirby swung his parasol around, creating an arc of flames that torched the quartet. A mopoo appeared out of nowhere and tackled Kirby in the face. Then a bronto burt did the same. Kirby flipped over and twirled the parasol above his head, sending streams of flame spewing in all directions.
Most of the enemies were destroyed, but mopoos live inside the clouds. Three more of them tried to tackle Kirby, but he quickly covered himself with the parasol, becoming a ball of fire that incinerated the mopoos.
A pacto lumbered onto the cloud along with two sparkys and a swarm of pterans.
The pacto lunged at Kirby, who dodged. Pactos can eat anything, including fireballs. Kirby tried twirling the parasol again, but a sparky zapped him before he could do so. Then he felt sharp stabs as the pterans, flying in formation, all dive-bombed him.
Kirby smashed his parasol on the sparky. Then he held up the parasol and inverted the canopy, sending a swirling ball of fire flying at the pteran squadron, which exploded on contact with one of them.
Among the flaming pteran carcasses, the pacto lunged again. Kirby dodged, but not quite soon enough. The pacto clamped down on Kirby's foot. Kirby tried to stab it with the parasol, but the pacto flung Kirby into air, trying to toss him into its mouth.
Kirby inflated and the instant the pacto's mouth closed he shot downward at it, parasol first. The blow connected, crushing the pacto and producing an earthquake-like blast of fire. This fire also destroyed the other sparky.
Blast it! thought Dark Matter. This battle isn't over yet, Kirby!
Kirby watched as a gigantic mopoo, easily six times the size of the others, rose out of the clouds. Accompanying it were four blue propeller bombs.
The big mopoo tried to tackle Kirby, who retracted into his parasol again. However, no fireball is enough to destroy such a huge mopoo. The big mopoo smashed into Kirby, snapping the parasol, putting out the flames, and causing Kirby to lose his ability.
The propeller bombs dived in. Kirby, still in pain, managed to dodge three of them, but one still hit him and exploded.
Kirby was staring to really hurt. He was having a tough time with these enemies. Why? Because they all thought as one.
Kirby summoned Fighter and- WHAM! Before he could summon another ability (in order to make a combo-ability), the big mopoo hit him again. Kirby became Fighter Kirby!
Kirby performed rising break on the big mopoo, smashing it upward. Then he spun in a roundhouse kick, knocking one of the propeller bombs into another. They both exploded.
The mopoo tried another tackle, but Kirby flipped backwards over it and stabbed it in the back with a comet kick.
The last propeller bomb flew at Kirby, but just before contact Kirby spun around, grabbing its underside and sending it spinning at the big mopoo.
The collision and subsequent explosion blasted the big mopoo apart.
"Good show!" cheered Sasuke.
"Impressive," commented Silver Kibble.
"If only he was on our side," put in Yamikage.
"That wouldn't work," said Meta Knight. "With such power as that, he might turn on us."
"He looks tired, Sir Meta Knight," said Captain Birdbrain. "Should we attack now?"
"No, Captain. Watch. Let's see what he does."
Without Gooey's warpstars, there was no way Kirby could get a maximum tomato after the fight. Luckily, he located another Warp Cannon on level two. After another meal, he was good as new.
"Yes..." murmured Meta Knight. "Time to initiate plan G." He then said out loud, "Escargoon. I once more require your mechanical skills."
Meta Knight looked around.
"Where's Escargoon?" he asked.
"He went up top," answered Meta Sword. "Said he was going to work on something in the cargo car."
"Well, get him back down here! He's needed! He can work on his own stuff later."
After Meta Sword had fetched Escargoon, Meta Knight repeated, "I once more require your mechanical skills."
"Mm-hm? For what?" replied Escargoon.
"I need you to build a Warp Cannon replica," continued Meta Knight, "which is designed to explode when activated."
"Why, Sir Meta Knight?"
"You don't get it, do you? You've been up in that cargo car so long that you've missed all our observations of Kirby's behavior. Well, we found the recurring action. Kirby frequently utilizes Warp Cannons to take him to food reserves where he replenishes health. If we put a fake one in his way, he's sure to use it. Then... KABOOM!"
"Okay. I'll get right on it."
Level three reached. Only one more to go. Then head southeast.
Kill mopoos. Kill sparkys. Dodge pterans. Blow 'em up. Fight this. Slice that. Grab it by the head. Now throw it at that other one. Toss bomb. Done. Oh, no. More? Summon abilities. Kill, kill, kill! Aaarrgh! When will this onslaught of enemies end?!
"Fake Warp Cannon completed, Sir Meta Knight!" reported Escargoon, showing it off in the middle of the ship.
"Perfect," replied Meta Knight, but then he walked over to it and looked around the base. "Where's the fuse?" he asked.
"Oh, uh, slight problem there," said Escargoon uncomfortably. "I don't have any rope that matches the kind used on the real Warp Cannons."
"Then just use a different fuse. I doubt Kirby will care."
"Uh..." Escargoon was starting to sweat slightly. "Well, I can't... Ya see, uh, I don't really have any rope... at all... in that cargo car up there."
"NO ROPE?! HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY FORGET SOMETHING AS IMPORTANT AND BASIC AS ROPE?!!"
"O-o-oh!" moaned Escargoon. "But, Sir Meta Knight, rope isn't necessary in anything I make! I do have an alternative, though."
"And it is?" said Meta Knight skeptically.
"I could connect the Cannon to a detonator box using timed electro-resistors. Then when Kirby pushes down the lever, he'll have a few seconds to get in the Cannon before it explodes, just as if it he had lit a fuse."
"Very well. Set the ship down, Captain. Escargoon, set up the replacement fuse. Then you, Sasuke, use the ship's air lock and mechanical arms to set the 'Warp Cannon' in position."
Level four... and there's another Warp Cannon. But wait. Something's wrong with this one.
"Gooey," said Kirby, "this Warp Cannon doesn't have a fuse like the rest of them."
"Well then you obviously can't use it," replied Gooey. "Without a fuse, how do you expect to set it off?"
"Maybe with this," answered Kirby, taking a picture.
"A detonator box?! No! Absolutely not! It's probably a trap."
"But Gooey, what if it isn't? I've been doing a lot of battling and I really need some food. Look, the detonator box has a flame on it. Maybe this is an improved model. No more fire hazard."
"Nice touch with the painted flame, Escargoon," hissed Meta Lance.
"Kirby, don't do it. I'm warning you."
"Gooey, I'm pressing down the handle."
Kirby pressed down the handle and walked toward the Warp Cannon.
"I'm sorry Kirby, but you have forced me to do this."
An incredibly loud, high-pitched beep emitted from the phone. Kirby fell over from shock and pain. A few seconds later, the 'Warp Cannon' exploded, blasting the vicinity with smoke, fire and shrapnel.
A plate-like piece bounced off Kirby's head. His face was covered with black soot and his eyes were wide.
"Now do you believe me it's a trap?" asked Gooey in his signature smart-alec tone of voice.
"No!" shouted Meta Knight. "He was so close! If only Gooey hadn't stopped him. He would have been blown to bits!"
"Bummer, dudes," said Meta Drone predictably. "Like, plan G failed too."
Kirby found a real Warp Cannon after a distance. There he healed his nerve-racked body and wiped the soot off his face.
After exiting, Kirby moved southeast.
Now as he traveled, he noticed an eerie lack of enemies to fight. It was as if this area of Cloudy Park was dead.
Soon he knew why.
There, surrounded by enemies...
"Marx!" gasped Kirby.
"Kirby?!" said Marx, turning around. His face was still covered with ink, which meant that he was still blind.
Kirby quickly took a picture.
"Ingenious," explained Gooey. "This is definitely Chuchu's work. This ink is what has been scrambling my scanners. This is the anomaly. She must use it to escape from foes that she cannot overcome. She can even put it on scanning devices to temporarily put them out of working condition."
"I have no time for this, Kirby," said Marx, speaking the words of Dark Matter. "Chuchu has stolen the final star rod shard from me and I must get this ink off my face! Then I will be able to get the shard back."
Kirby noticed that Marx had burn and freeze marks all over his face. Apparently the chillys and q-berts among the enemies around him had been attempting to burn and freeze the ink off.
"I have possessed minions everywhere," continued Marx. "They will know where Chuchu is, but I'll never get there if I can't see!"
"Why are you telling me this?" asked Kirby.
"So that you will go away and leave me to my ink removal business. Go seek Chuchu yourself! 'Course you'll never find her. Not even the greatest scanner in this solar system can locate one annoying octopus in all of Dreamland!"
Marx turned back around.
"What do we do?" Kirby asked Gooey. "He's right, isn't he? There's no way to find her and we have no idea where she is."
"Kirby, listen closely," replied Gooey. "Don't let Marx hear this."
Kirby pressed the phone up against his body.
"Okay," continued Gooey. "I hate to say this, but we've got to restore Marx's vision."
"WHAT?!"
"Ssh!!!" hissed Gooey. "I have a plan. Dark Matter knows where Chuchu is. So, Marx will go right there when he can see again. He said so himself. Then we follow him and keep him off Chuchu when he gets to her. You'll finally be reunited!"
Silence.
"It's the only way," finished Gooey. "We can get the ink off with acid."
"Are you telling me there's an Acid ability?" asked Kirby.
"No. But there's the next best thing. Plasma plus Parasol and charge up all the way. Four times. You remember."
"Got it."
Kirby summoned Parasol and Plasma abilities to become Hyper-Parasol Kirby! Kirby held a pure white, glowing parasol over his head. He concentrated on it. The canopy twirled 360 degrees by itself, signifying one charge. Then another twirl for the second charge. Then three! Then four!
Kirby activated the ability.
The clouds above got dark and rain started to pour.
"Whatever you do, Kirby," said Gooey. "Keep that parasol over your head. This is acid rain. Deadly."
The enemies around Marx writhed. The mopoos retreated into the clouds, leaving the rest to melt.
Marx, however, was too powerful to be affected by simple pH1. He leaned backwards, letting the acid wash all the ink off his face.
With a wicked smile, Marx turned toward Kirby.
"Nice weather we're having," he said. "It's a shame you have that parasol. Well, I wouldn't want to deprive you of the wonderful feeling that comes with the skin melting off your face!"
Marx lunged forward and crushed the canopy of the parasol in his teeth. But the instant he had done so, the rain stopped.
"No power, no rain. How convenient," said Marx sarcastically.
Kirby didn't answer. He had been scared for a moment that the acid would destroy him without the parasol.
"Well, I'm off," said Marx with a bow. "Say good-bye to your hopes of seeing Chuchu again!"
Marx shot into the distance.
"Oh, no!" shrieked Kirby. "I don't have any transportation! I'll never reach Chuchu before he does!"
A warpstar arrived at Kirby's side.
"What?" exclaimed Kirby. "How did y- You did it!"
"Yep!" said Gooey. "No more Dark Matter interference! I made it, tested it, and it works! Now go get Chuchu!"
Kirby hopped on his new Dark Matter repelling warpstar and zoomed off after Marx.